30 weeks

Well here I am 3/4 of the way through my second pregnancy. My sisters have been buggin me for some belly shots. I finally too onle last week and I could not believe the difference in my shape. Check out the photo.

Elvis! Elvis!

My mum is a die hard Elvis fan, and is also the kind of person that has everything. The thought of buying a gift for her for Mothers' Day is daunting. So I made her this bag. I am happy enough with it. It could possibly be a little bigger, and now that it is finished I can see that it really needs a clasp, that is easily fixed though.

I am thinking of making MIL one from some Amy Butler fabric.

Some little gifts

My friend's sister was given one of these when she had her baby. I thought they were cute and not at all worth the $30 price tag. So what does a sewer do............ she copies the idea and makes her own version.

Two friends have recently had babies and I thought these would make a perfect present. The fabric and ribbons were bought very quickly as we were on our way to story time at the library, something Ellyse just loves going to.

A belated birthday present

My beautiful friend Kylie, who I met while teaching in Mackay, made Ellyse this beautiful dress for her birthday.

I must admit that when I first saw the colour I was a little worried it wouldn't look so good on her, but it is just adorable.

You won't be able to see in the photo, but Kylie hand stitched slear sequence on to some of the circles. It is just adorable.

Just had to include one of her wearing it.

New and hopefully improved library bag

Well I have changed the style of bag I am making for gifts as to be honest the other one with the draw string was just too hard for the kids to carry around. This one takes a little longer but I think it looks great. Basically I just changed the straps and also sewed a base into it.

I am not sure how this bag will be recieved. The parents are very much he is a boy and he will have boy things type people, so not sure how a bag with straps will go down. I just think they are so useful and the kids will get years of use out of them.

Easter Gifts

I made these aprons as gifts for Easter for my niece and nephew. We have never given them Easter gifts, but my sister in law bought Ellyse some slippers. I thought I best have something to give to them in return.

Ellyse is going for a sleep over tonight, we didn't see them over the Easter weekend so I will

deliver the gifts this afternoon. I hope they are not too disapointed with no chocolate.

My mojo is back and I'm loving it!

I made this pini today for my friend's older daughter. It is to match the other pini I made for her younger daughter last month. The tracing of the pattern and the cutting out took me longer than the sewing - I hate that part!

I thought it looked a little plain, so I made some little yoyos and need to get an orange button for the middle. I think it lifts it a lot. I wanted to do some fancy stitching on the hem, but I am about to run out of orange thread.

Anyway here it is. I am in love with this fabric, I have one more piece left to make Ellyse a little dress.

Pjs nearly finished

Well I got into the sewing this afternoon and nearly finished the pjs. Just the buttons to sew on. Ellyse wasn't to keen to try them on, hence the bad photo but you get the idea.

One of the threads of my (MIL's) overlocker came out the other night so I had to do all my finishing stitches with the machine - man it is slow. Must make a trip to MIL's to get her to rethread it - I just can't work it out.

Swap Items for Tigerfilly

Tigerfilly wanted something to brighten her kitchen, I thought these colours were perfect. I hope they are not too over the top!

Kitchen Item Swap Thanks Helen

Thankyou to tthe ever so lovely Helen who has sent me the most beautiful, colourful table runner. I lve it Helen, it will reall brighten my table/kitchen area.

In the package was also so fabric and some patchwork magazines - Helen knows I am trying to convince myself to sew a quilt for Ellyse's bed. Oh and I can't forget the recipe for Dazza's Pesto Sauce - sounds yummy.

Ellyse's 2nd Birthday

I cannot believe it has been2 years since we bought our little (well 4.2 kg!) baby home. I am so proud of the little person she is becoming. She is such a happy little girl, who is kind, thoughtful and oh so funny. She is a real little lady and loves to lok after her babies just like they are real. Her language blows me away everyday, se is starting to come out with the funniest things.

I honestly never knew how much I could love someone. Those trying times we had in the beginning are all a distant memory now and I look forward to watching Ellyse grow and change over the next two years. I cannot wait to see her as a big sister - she can't wait either.

We had a lovely time celebrating her birthday at a local park. My sister who lives in London started a tradition last year of buying the party dress. I just love what she chose this year - not so appropriate for the park, but who cares, she was the birthday girl! It was so cute.

And here is a not so flattering one of me but you can see how my pregnant tummy is growing. I think I am way to big to only be 25 weeks, but I know I was like this last time too.

Ellyse's PAPs Party

Well it is Ellyse's 2nd birthday on Sunday. Our Mothers' Group (PAPs as we call ourselves) met at one of the girl's houses today so I decided to take along a little cake for Ellyse - well many little cakes. I was happy with how they turned out. I made some girly girl ones and some little snakes in long grass for the boys. Funnily enough they didn't care what cake they had, so long as they had one!

I so wish I had videoed the singing of Happy Birthday, she has wanted me to sing it all week since my birthday. She just thought she was a star, her little face was glowing and her eyes were popping out of her head....just too cute. Will have to capture it on Sunday with her real cake!

Birthday week

It is birthday week in our house this week. It was my 31st yeasterday and then exactly 1 week later Ellyse will celebrate her 2nd birthday.

I made her invitation and cannot believe how she has changed in 12 months. My baby has gone and my gorgeous little girl is here! I can't wait to celebrate her birthday with her.

New fabric = winter pjs

My Aunty sent these fabrics home with Mum last week.

From left they are - that bumpy fabric like table cloth material, white with red spots, blue corduroy, the next 3 are all flannelette - perfect for some winter pjs for Ellyse. I am stoked with some free fabric, there is quite a lot of each print.

Now just to get the motivation to sew!

Ellyse's first train ride

Today for Mothers' Group we took the kids on a train ride to nowhere. We just caught the train for about 6 stops and turned around and came back into Cleveland where we had a coffee and some lunch.

The kids absolutely loved the train and loved running around at the Harbour.

Vintage patterns

Here are some shots of the vintage patterns I was given. I wa amazed at a book that the lady kept when she was a teenager, she had cut out fashions that she liked and glued them into a scrapbook.

Scrapbook

There are many more, but I thought that was enough to show you.

I am not too sure what I am going to do with them. I know Eleanor would be disappointed if I gave them away or sold them, but I don't think I will use them. I love the style but I don't think my body does!

On another note DH and I went to Ikea yesterday as I have been wanting to tidy up the toy room for ages. I knew just what I wanted and I am most pleased with the result. Or playroom is an open space near our dining and lounge so it is important (to me) that it is tidy. I love the little boxes at the bottom, they are for dressups, paints, stuffed toys and I haven't thought of the other yet, I am sue it will be filled with something. I want to make little labels so Ellyse will know where things are. There is no denying the teacher in me!

My new cabinet and today's sewing

Today I picked up my new sewing cabinet, a very generous gift from my mum's old next door neighbour. I am so excited to have my own little space to sew. I set it up straight away and got to work. I must admit it felt a bit different for awhile, the machine is now a lot further away from me than I am used to - but I think I can deal with that. I just put the overlocker there and stood when I needed to use it. It fits beautifully into the lowest draw space which is really a cupboard.

It is my closest firend's daughter's 1st birthday this week, as the second girl born she has so many toys to play with already so I decided to make her a little pinafore for winter. Not sure if you can tell but this is a printed corduroy. I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. I have enough to make Ellyse a pinafore too, and a matching one for Lauren's big sister one too. It was a nice easy pattern.

I then put together another library bag for yet another 2nd birthday present. I have been making these for the kids at mothers' group for their birthdays. I love the way Max's has come out. I am going to change the design of these bags to include a handle rather than the drawstring. I think it will be easier for the kids to carry.

Kitchen Swap Questions

1. What colours are you kitchen?

Pink kitchen with beige walls - sounds yuck, but it actually blends in ok.

2. What is your favourite appliance?

I do love my rice cooker, our dishwasher isn't working, otherwise I am sure I wuols say that!

3. What do you love cooking most?

I love cook sweets and savoury. I am quite anal when it comes to meal planning, when I write my menu plan I like to try at least one thing new.

I also love baking and try to do this with Ellyse once a week - but only if we are going somewhere, otherwise there is only one person in this house that eats that food!

4. What item would you love the most from your swap partner?

A nice trendy table runner (does that count as kitchen), I need some more things that protect your bench and table - can't think of what they are called.

BUT

whatever my swap partner chooses to make for me I will LOVE!

Ellyse in her apron

Ellyse has been really wanting to get into the arts and crafts lately. It is so fun to watch her experiment and learn with colour, shape, brushes etc.

Today I cut out some butterfly shapes and we painted them, she thought it was just great. I got her to wear her apron that I made, she thinks she is very special when she wears it.

My little baby girl is growing up too quickly!

Our wonderful holiday

I just thought I would share some pics of our wonderful family holiday to Yamba. We have just arrived home and already we wish we were back there.

The weather was beautiful and Ellyse was just a little angel.

Here are a few pics

I am back!

I cannot believe it has been so long between, I wonder if anyone bothers to look any more?

Well good news is that I have my sewing mojo back and I am ready to go! I have been sewing some gifts for all of the kids from mothers' group. We are all about to celebrate the kiddie's 2nd birthdays. I have made some library bags, which I forgot to get pictures of, and today I made 4 aprons. Two boys and two girls. I am putting a tool set with the boy's and some cooking utensils with the girl's. Very sterotypical I know, but I would hate to offend anyone - maybe I will doing it this way - oh well. I have made sure I mention in the card that they can be used for many different things.

I am really very happy with the way they have worked out, the bias binding was a little fidddly but the end result is great. Each of these cost only $3.75 to make. I thought it was great!

I also bought some gorgeous courdry (sp) fabric from SL yesterday and I can't wait to make Ellyse a pinifore (sp = again!) from it. I also have an idea for a friend's little girl who is turning one, I can't disclose on here though as she sometimes visits.

Hope to be back with more posts soon.

My sister's wedding

Well after all of the long distance planning and stress regarding the flower girl dress, the wedding went off without a hitch.

Poor little Ellyse has been dragged from pilar to post for the last 2 weeks, sleeping in all different places, meeting lots of new people and being babysat a lot. I cannot believe how well she coped and was just a star at the wedding. The only little hiccup was the olive green tupperware container that doubled as the bouquet. She just wouldn't let it go eventhough the grapes were finished! It was cute though, and something everyone will remember.

I was so pleased with the decision for K's sister to take her for the evening. It was great for her to leave at 5 and for K and I to enjoy the night.

My sister looked just beautiful, the whole look of the wedding was jut perfect.

Enjoy the photos.

Ellyse with her 'bouquet'

Ellyse with the bride and groom

My sisters and I - how different can we be?

Ellyse and Daddy throwing stones into the dam

Ellyse is going to be a .......

...and a very proud one at that.

So here is my reason (I hope) for my lack of mojo in the sewing department. I have been extremely tired and have been taking every oportunity to sleep when Ellyse sleeps.

I am 10 weeks pregnant and due on the 13th (Friday) July. I was 10 days over with Ellyse so it will be interesting to see what happens this time.

We are very excited!

Ellyse's Christams dress

Sorry about the quality of the photo, it was taken onmy video camera as DH left the digi at work (grrr) oh well it is their camera and he does need it for work. We really should buy our own!

I am happy with this little dress, it has come out just as I pictured it. I wan't to add something gold along the front of it to jazz it up a little. Ellyse was too busy dancing here to turn around.

Secret Santa has arrived

I was so excited to see an express post package at my door this afternoon and loved opening it up. Thankyou so much to my secret santa I absolutely love everything you chose for us.

We got
* a beautiful pair of shorts and matching top
* 3 pieces of fabric
*some lovely pink ric rac
*2 gorgeous little strawberry buttons










Please excuse Ellyse's smile at the moment, she just loves playing it up to the camera. I am hoping to tone it down a little before the wedding!

Ella's Christmas Dress

Here is the Christmas dress I made for my friend's daughter. It was made from a vintage pattern that I had thrifted a while ago. It is a size three so way too big for Ellyse but Ella is a bit bigger so it may be ok on her.
This is the pattern I wanted to use for Ellyse's dress also but I think I will play around with the pattern a little before I do hers. The top part of the dress is great, I just might make it longer and not so wide.
Ella's mum was happy with it which is great.